At a time when the government is going all out to woo potential investors to set up firms in Andhra Pradesh capital Amaravati, a firm from Switzerland has been awaiting permission for one year to set up a gold refinery near Vijayawada. Apparently, there has been no progress after a Government Order (G.O.) was issued in this regard in October 2016.

As per the details available from the Switzerland headquartered Indani Global, the company approached Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu at the World Economic Forum meet in Davos in 2016 and offered to invest and set up a gold and silver refinery. After presenting a detailed project report, the government issued the G.O. citing benefits. A revenue of Rs. 1,00,000 crore per annum to the State and direct and indirect employment to nearly 6,000 people was projected, according to Indani Global CEO Ms. Kruti Indani.

Ms. Kruti told The Hindu over the phone, “The APIIC identified 30 acres at Mallavall village in Bapulapadu mandal in Krishna district in an industrial park of approximately 1,360 acres but the final allocation is pending since then. The State is awaiting clarity on GST and its share therein. We are given to understand that some aspects of the GST viz CSGT (interstate sales) and relevant share of the State are not yet clear and the matter is pending for all industries/projects including ours on this count.” As per the original schedule, the company wanted to go for production by December 2017, according to her.

Going by the projections of the company, Indani’s facility is expected to have a processing capacity of 250 metric tonnes gold and 900 MT silver per annum and intends to become the biggest refinery in India and eventually in Asia. At present, Indani Global has an operational refinery in Rudrapur, Uttarakhand, named Paraj, with a 50 MT per annum capacity.

'Hurdles on the way'

The Swiss company feels that the dynamic spirit of the Chief Minister is not complemented at the lower level as the pace of the work is very slow. Indani has stated it is disappointed at the hurdles on the way. However, it is ready to start work and go into production within 12 months of receiving the permission.

When contacted, a top official who is in the know of the developments said, “It seems there is some confusion in the government regarding the project and the GST conversion.”

The officials concerned at the Industries department could not be reached.